Leo XIV Appoints Pro-Contraception Bishop in the Philippines
Born in 1974, Villareal was ordained a priest in 2001 and has served as a seminary instructor (2012–16), cathedral rector (2016–18), vicar general (2016–21), diocesan administrator (2021–23) and pastor (since 2023).
In his 2011 theological master's thesis submitted at the University of Vienna, Austria, Monsignor Villareal showed sympathy towards revisionist arguments that question the Church's teaching on contraception.
First, Villareal acknowledges that the Church's teaching "establishes a close bond between sexuality and procreation, linking the two in matrimony".
He straightforwardly affirms God’s design of sexuality: "The Church judges the morality of the sexual act based on whether it is separable or inseparable from the unitive and procreative significance of the act".
Furthermore, he explains that this doctrine forms the basis for the condemnation of homosexuality, masturbation, contraception and extramarital and premarital sex.
Questioning Natural Law, Adhering to Situation's Ethics
However, Villarreal then presents a second part of his thesis, including a "new way" of looking at sexual morality that is no longer based on the natural law perspective.
For Villarreal, the "big question" is: "Why can't the Church change its teaching on sexuality?"
His answer: "Many things have surely changed since St Thomas Aquinas developed the concept of natural law and its subsequent application to the sexual teachings of the Church."
Monsignor Villareal repeats that "times have changed", with babies now surviving birth at much higher rates than in previous centuries.
He refers to heretics such as Francis Sullivan SJ ("Humanae Vitae is not infallible") and extensivelty to Charles Curran ("The Church should change her teaching on moral absolutes"). The latter was formally disciplined even by the Vatican in 1986 for his persistent rejection of Church teaching on contraception and – who could have guessed – homosexuality.
@Gaetano Masciullo comments on this appointment on January 27, noting a pattern: Leo XIV has appointed several bishops whose prior statements or theological positions have been at odds with Catholicism. These include Shane Mackinlay in Brisbane, Australia; Beat Grögli in St Gallen, Switzerland; José Antonio Satué Huerto in Málaga, Spain; Sithembele Sipuka in Cape Town, South Africa; and Joseph Grünwidl in Vienna, Austria.
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